Ok so the previous blog post was called 'the long one', well a week or two later on Human Rights Day (aptly named Human Rides Day) I put that ride to shame. A group of eight of us headed out to Rosemary Hill on the eastern outskirts of Pretoria from Benoni. A bit uncertain about the route we were lucky to have George McPhail riding with us, to point Mark (our ride captain) in the right direction. Incredible riding so nice to do a different route after flogging the routes around Dunblane/Serengeti for so many years. The route was mainly district track with a few small bumps on the way back. We stopped over at Rosemary Hill bike park for a coffee and breakfast roll before heading back. Unfortunately George's bolt in his headset snapped and he had to get a lift back 20km out from our halfway stop (he was hoping to do a 250km ride for the day so this dented his ambitions somewhat).
 |
| Pit stop to check out George's bike |
 |
| Sean phoning for backup as Robbie was finished after 100km (Shannon having a welcome breather) |
 |
| Mark and Robbie |
 |
| Michelle and Becky |
So this ride ended up being the longest ride that I have ever done - a whopping 143km,
click here for Strava stats of the ride. Surprisingly I was feeling ok and not to bushed at the end of the ride, I think it has a lot to do with the great bunch of people that I was riding with. The pace the whole way was perfect and I didn't have to redline to keep up with the group. Was really great to test the boundaries of my body and do something that is a benchmark for further rides.
 |
| Me rolling in home after a 143km ride |
 |
| Awesome photo capturing the sunrise over Blaauwpan on one of our morning rides before work |
 |
| Rough Riders at Blaauwpan |
 |
| Mark and I did a ride in the rain one morning, we still had time for a coffee stop. |
